The HP ENVY 14 Spectre is here after the week-long tease. If you're at CES, you might even spot the apparition.... if you are among the lucky few. But for those that aren't at the show, I wanted to break down for you why Spectre is a different kind of laptop…and explain the ins-and-outs of this techno-fashion statement.

Take the things that you know about thin, lean laptops and class it up. A lot. The first thing you’re going to notice is that this slim, squared-off laptop’s as smooth as glass. That’s mostly because its made of glass. The black polished exterior catches the eye and the silvery interior feels…well, if I’m gonna get scientific about it, kinda awesome. The scratch-resistant glass that covers the lid, display, palmrest and ImagePad ensures that it’ll keep those looks while feeling cool to the touch. In short, think of this premium Ultrabook as the Fancy-Schmancy (neither a technical nor marketing term) little brother to the ENVY 15 and 17.

There is a lot going on inside a 20mm-thin, under four-pound frame. Flip open the lid and inside this 13.3-inch laptop body lies a 14-inch screen. (For all you Whovians, think of it like a TARDIS – bigger on the inside.) And that HD Radiance Display is capable of some pretty crisp pictures with the 1600 by 900-pixel resolution. It features Beats Audio (and an old-school analog dial to control volume) – similar to what you’ve recently seen in the latest ENVY 15 and 17 series laptops.

The Radiance Backlit keyboard reminds me of the ENVY 15 – comfortable and big keys (only the arrow keys get a little squeezed) – and a proximity sensor only lights up the keys when you need it.

OK, you get the picture. It has a pretty classy chassis, but what lies under the hood? It’s got the Intel Core i5-2467M processor, 4GB of RAM and you can beef up the SSD driver to 256GB (128GB SSD comes standard). Point of order: This machine relies on UMA graphics, so it can handle most everyday tasks. (If you’re a gamer, consider eyeballing the ENVY 15 or 17. Just sayin’.) And you should get a full day’s performance out of it. I’m told that it’ll hit the 9-hour mark on a single charge.

Spectre also manages to cram in a number of features that you’d expect in a bigger, beefier laptop. I’m talking no dongle required – armed with Ethernet, HDMI, Mini DisplayPort and USB 3.0 ports. You’ll spot some good software options on-board this machine as well: Full versions of Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Elements, two years of Norton Internet Security and a dedicated concierge phone line for HP ENVY users.

The HP ENVY 14 Spectre should be available in the US come February 8th, starting at $1,399.99.

All right, you’ve heard the spiel. I haven’t had much in the way of quality personal time with Spectre quite yet, so I’ll share more traditional performance results when I can. Wanna learn more or you have more questions for me? Hit the comment box….or Look for more at www.hp.com/spectre.